Dessay: Desi or Brown: The Color Controversy

Yo what’s up Desis, this your host Akhil
Rao for this week’s Dessay, our weekly Video Essay series where we examine issues affecting
the Global Desi Youth from our point of view. Last week, Instagram model and make up artist
@aankita.b had an image of hers reposted on an Instagram page titled @asiangirlsunited.
A post meant to celebrate her beauty and unique South Asian background, however, was completely
sidetracked over @AsianGirlsUnited’s post caption, referring to Ankita as a “brown
girl.” Many, I am assuming non-South Asian, visitors to the post were shocked at a Desi
girl calling herself “brown,” especially Ankita, who appears to be as light skinned
as a white girl in some of her posts. For quite sometime, Desis have used the term “brown”
to describe themselves, finding South Asian too PC and the term Desi too traditional.
There are even prominent South Asian brands that embrace this term; like the digital magazine
Brown Girl Mag. Many non-Desis, however, are confused by the
usage of the term “brown,” as was evident by the comments on Ankita’s pic. Ankita
reacted by stating: “people are SO uneducated about South Asians…our skin ranges literally
from the lightest to the darkest, that is how diverse we are. We’ve gone through discrimination,
oppression, and racism as well,” suggesting that many of her critics were trying to exclude
Desis from the political identity behind “POC,” or people of color.
This conversation of “Brown” reminds use of 1Des Media’s previous Dessay on whether
or not we Desis should be allowed to use the N-word, which my fellow corespondent Ayushi Chhabra
covered the reason artists like Heems felt they had cultural capital to resonate with
discriminated blacks post 9/11. Here again, we see the same finger pointing at the supposedly
successful, well-educated model minority South Asian…are they allowed to lay claim to being
of the “darker race?” Categories based on skin tone have existed
for quite some time. White and Black have the longest history here in the US, but categories
like Yellow and Red, referring to East Asians and Native Americans respectively, have also
been used frequently. Brown is relatively younger, however, and can first be seen by
its usage amongst Chicano, Mexican American youth. Insignia stating “Brown Pride”
can still be seen today within the Chicano culture.
When and where did Desis begin to use “Brown” to describe themselves is anyone’s guess,
but one thing is for sure, the 2nd generation Youth pioneered the term. Many belonging to
our parent’s generation would probably be shocked to refer themselves as a color, given
beauty standards back home in the Des. With skin whitening products like “Fair and Lovely,”
widely sold in South Asia, the connotation of having “brown skin” was not something
to be proud of. The second generation raised in North America,
Europe, and everywhere else the 30 million strong Diaspora resides, however, has not
been as obsessed with colonial standards of beauty like our parents may have been. Furthermore,
labels like Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Nepali, Bangladeshi, etc have been limiting
for those living in the Diaspora. With little connection to those nations, it is not befitting
to call oneself an Indian-American or a Pakistani-Briton or a South African Sri Lankan…all these
labels become a mouthful. So, we start to see the term “brown” gain
prominence as a pan-ethnic identifier. It is extremely inclusive, compared to other
labels usually used to describe Desis, which are based on linguistics, religion, or nationality.
Perhaps part of the charm of referring to ourselves as “Brown” is that is allows
fluid solidarity between the South Asian community and other People of Color like Blacks, Latinos,
and Middle Easterners. When we saw the backlash against Ankita in
her Instagram comments, we were pretty shocked. But then we began to think about how limiting
any label is, even if it is meant to invoke a pan-ethnic solidarity. Each of us is unique
to our very core, and our identities are constantly changing, depending on simple things like
where we reside today and where we might reside tommorow, what we believe in today and what
we might believe tommorow. At the end of the day, labels are simply a means to an end:
to understand someone’s view that he or she might share with a similar group of people.
The key word: understand someone’s view. So let’s focus on the label of Brown chicks
and Brown dudes as just that. A means to understand. Not an end into itself.
That’s just our thoughts, and our Dessay on the “controversy.” Write to us below
on what you think about the usage of labels like Brown, Desi, or South Asian mean, and
don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Instagram and Facebook
for more great content like this. Signing off for 1Des Media, I’m your host, Akhil
Rao.

2 Replies to “Dessay: Desi or Brown: The Color Controversy”

Desi is the only label that holds legitimacy for all South Asian ancestry people.I have no need to align or identify with some "victim group". I have never been a victim or "oppressed" minority. And you brown skin people are as unrepresentative of me and my ancestors as some Norwegian.I don't want to get in the way of your grievance mongering, Europeans and Americans are stupid enough to tolerate it, why should I care.Just don't expect me to join the degenerate lunacy and self-absorption.I am perfectly fine with my fair skin and only feel self conscious when a bunch of brown desis think they can speak for me or my experience with the world.

I am British born and raised and, honestly would feel disgusted to be larping as some sort of "victim", no matter how socially profitable.